Angels on a Pin (The Barometer Story) By Alexander Calandra Some time ago, I received a call from a colleague who asked if I would be the referee on the grading of an examination question. He was about to give a student a zero for his answer to a physics question, while the student claimed […]
Angels on the Head of a Pin, by Alexander Calandra Read More »
The Patriot Philosopher and I took up seven questions: 1.) Can you tell us about your academic background. What compelled you toward this path in life? Did you always want to be or envision yourself as a public intellectual? 2.) In your influential work, Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault, you offer a unique
In conversation with Dubai’s Lucas Skrobot.
On Cultural Marxism, Colonialism and Racial Rhetoric — With Lucas Skrobot Read More »
For those interested in improving their thinking skills and applied cognition, I recommend Professor Oakley’s Mindshift: Break Through Obstacles to Learning and Discover Your Hidden Potential. Disclosure: Prof. Oakley quotes me in the book, and I wrote on a theme inspired by Oakley’s excellent earlier book, Pathological Altruism (Oxford 2011).
Barbara Oakley’s *Mindshift* book Read More »
In New York I debated Dr. Thaddeus Russell, who argues that postmodernism is correct and useful in advocating for a free society. I disagreed, arguing that the Enlightenment is essential to liberty and that postmodernism is an explicit reject of all Enlightenment and libertarian principles. The SOHO Forum debate was moderated by Gene Epstein. Post-script:
Libertarian Postmodernism? The Debate Read More »
I like this line from Shakespeare’s 1623 play: “O! it is excellent To have a giant’s strength, but it is tyrannous To use it like a giant.“ Shakespeare, Measure for Measure. Related: “Why Power Does Not Corrupt.”
Shakespeare: “it is excellent to have a giant’s strength” Read More »
Nietzsche has a reputation for being an individualist. But note this from his The Will to Power: “My philosophy aims at ordering of rank not at an individualistic morality” (287; emphasis in the original). Nietzsche’s sometimes-yes-sometimes-not individualism is complicated. For more, check out my “Egoism in Nietzsche and Rand” (audio version; text version).
Was Nietzsche individualist? Ordering-of-rank version Read More »
Our topics with timestamps: 00:00:45 Introduction 00:01:18 Is Nietzsche’s philosophy positive? 00:03:06 Postmodernists as fundamentally jaded 00:03:48 Herbert Marcuse: Hermeneutics of Suspicion 00:07:26 Critical Theory: Marxism Modified? 00:12:00 Immanuel Kant-not postmodern, but… 00:17:08 More on Kant and the use of labels 00:26:29 Postmodernism’s discomfort with Categories and Labels 00:28:53 Marx or Rousseau as Guide? 00:35:37
Logocentric discussion on Continental philosophers: Daxton Page and Stephen Hicks Read More »